NEW YORK—The New York Power Authority (NYPA) activated its
Peak Load Management (PLM) program Tuesday, with participating government
and business customers in New York City asked to reduce their power use.

The purpose of the program is to help NYPA manage available
electricity supplies during the hottest days of the summer, to ensure it
meets reliability requirements for 80 percent of the peak load in the city
to be met by in-city power plants.

“The Peak Load Management Program contributes to the
overall efforts under Governor Pataki to make certain that New York City and
New York State have sufficient power reserves during those days of the year
when air conditioners are running flat out,” said Eugene W. Zeltmann, NYPA
president and chief executive officer. He noted that the program, now in its
sixth year, reduces the amount of power carried over transmission lines from
power plants outside the city.

Participants achieve the power cutbacks through such
measures as turning off nonessential lighting and computers, adjusting
air-conditioner settings, running fewer elevators and shutting down
decorative fountains.

A total of 14 NYPA customers are participating in the PLM
program at 93 locations. Together, they’ve committed to cut back on their
electricity use by a total of 61 megawatts (mw). (One mw is about the
equivalent of the power for 1,000 homes.)

Among the participants are the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the
City University of New York, and Citibank.

The Power Authority pays the participating customers $40
for each kilowatt of electricity they commit to reduce when called upon.
Under the program, it may make such requests for up to 15 weekdays, from
June 1 through September 30. The duration of the reductions are limited to
two to six hours, between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Customers are given a day-ahead alert and a two-hour notice
on the day of the event, confirming the program’s activation. (Participants
have been advised of the possibility of another PLM event for Wednesday,
based on the latest weather forecast.)

The Power Authority supports similar load-reduction
programs that include additional NYPA customers in other areas of the state.
These initiatives, along with the PLM program, combine for a potential
peak-load reduction of more than 122 mw linked to NYPA’s efforts.

NYPA provides lower-cost power for thousands of public
facilities in New York City, saving them hundreds of millions of dollars a
year on their electric bills. It has also invested in major energy
efficiency measures for those customers that have lowered their utility
bills by nearly $55 million annually, helping to eliminate about 440,000
tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year.